Soldat Raggio
The Soldat Raggio is a midship supercar that is manufactured by French automaker Soldat. The shape of this car resembles the Enzo Ferrari at the rear, although made much thinner and shorter, and the Honda NSX at the front, albeit being rounder. It was featured on the Ridge Racer (PSP) and Ridge Racer 2 (PSP) front covers, and was renamed as the Soldat Rauna in Ridge Racer Vita where its head lights were updated from pop-ups to fixed lamps. In Ridge Racer (PSP) Specs (Ridge Racer PSP) *Made In: Italy *Drift Type: Dynamic *Engine: V12 *Max RPM: 9500 *Length: 182 inches *Width: 79 inches *Height: 46 inches *Max Speed: 161 mph *Description: A purebred race machine, Raggio's throaty 12 cylinder engine excites racing fans around the world. Ridge Racer 6 and 7 Ridge Racer 6 and 7's iteration of the Raggio is largely similar to its previous iteration, except for a performance increase in Ridge Racer 7 as it is first introduced as a Category 2 car. It also has a slightly longer nosecone and a more aggressive rear end, bringing a more modern and fierce look, although according to the description, this is to further improve aerodynamics and cd-values by making the design smoother in terms of shape, likely in order to improve top speed performance. The Raggio's description in Ridge Racer 6 ''implies that the Raggio has a carbon fibre chassis, in order to keep the weight down, and that it may likely be an expensive car with a limited production run, which is similar to the Assoluto Bisonte. In both titles, the Raggio has the best-in-class top speed but is offset by a below-average horsepower increase from nitrous and somewhat heavy handling. This means the car requires an expert driver to utilize its full potential. In the hands of a skilled driver, it is a very high-performing machine. This makes the Raggio a popular choice for experienced racers. Usually it is recommended to use Astaroth or Bosconian tires to stabilize its heavy turning performance. In Ridge Racer 7, a special Class 2 Machine variant of the Raggio is available by obtaining 100 Manufacturer Points with Soldat. This Complete Machine resembles the Class 6 Raggio in the PSP version, and has a more grippy driving style than the standard variant. Ridge Racer Vita The Raggio in ''Ridge Racer Vita has been renamed to "Rauna", and is a heavily-facelifted model now featuring traditional projector headlights, and that the design is based off of the original Raggio, but fitted with Arkbird body kit parts from Ridge Racer 7. It still retains the V12 engine and seven-speed paddle-shift gearbox as its predecessor. In-game text: Renowned throughout Italy, Rivelta wowed drivers with the Mercurio and Solare, both released in the early 2000's. After being acquired by French manufacturer Soldat, Rivelta continued with the Raggio, which was laden with exotic flare. Since the 1970's, Italian designer Giancarlo Zomegnan (age 76) continued the Raggio tradition by becoming the development director for Soldat's next-generation super sports cars. Having been married 7 times, Zomegnan is intimately familiar with the delicate concept of "love". When deciding on the new machine's name, he was quoted as saying, "We need something faster, something more out-of-reach than even the Raggio (Italian for "ray of light"), ...like a woman I once loved." Thus the machine was christened with the name, "Rauna". Only Zomegnan will ever know the true identity of this mysterious woman. Trivia *The Soldat Raggio may be the successor to the Rivelta Solare, since Soldat purchased the Rivelta line and closed it down. Further evidence is that the Raggio's Class 6 Type-S paint livery is the Rivelta's default paint scheme. *Raggio in Italian means "ray", or can be roughly translated to "beam". *In Ridge Racer (PSP) ''and its sequel, the badging of the Raggio (on its rear vent) seems to look somewhat different to the actual badging seen in intro movies and cutscenes. *The Soldat Raggio also makes a cameo in Time Crisis 4. On the Prologue stage, you can see a billboard that advertises the Raggio. However, in the original arcade version of the game, Age's logo incorrectly appears in the billboards. *A real-life replica of the Raggio exists, under the name Yamasa Raggio, built from a company that is known for making pachinko slot machines, under license. It was built from the chassis, engine and running gear of a Honda NSX, meaning that the real life Raggio is powered by a V6 rather than a V12. *The Raggio in ''Ridge Racer 6 ''and ''7 are one of three cars in the entire series with active rear wings that engage and adjust their angle at certain speeds, to improve handling and braking performance, the others being the Danver Hijack and Danver Bayonet. *The Rauna is named after a mysterious woman who the original Raggio designer (Giancarlo Zomegnan) once loved. *Like the Meltfire, the Raggio was also designed and created by former Rivelta designers and engineers, according to the description of the Rauna in Ridge Racer Vita, which may reference Pininfarina's involvement with Ferrari (where it is implied that Rivelta had become an in-house design division for Soldat following their acquisition). *On the game disc cover for Ridge Racer 2 (PSP), the Raggio is seen to have scissor doors. It, along with the Ridge Racer (PSP) incarnation of the Assoluto Fatalita, are the only known cars in the series to feature scissor doors. Category:Ridge Racer cars Category:Ridge Racer 6 cars Category:Ridge Racer 7 cars